2004 Boston Red Sox

2004 Boston Red Sox / Franchise: Boston Red Sox / BR Team Page

Record: 98-64, Finished 2nd in AL Eastern Division (2004 AL)

Clinched Division: September 27, 2004, At Tampa Bay Devil Rays

World Series Champs

Managed by Terry Francona

Coaches: Bill Haselman, Ron Jackson, Lynn Jones, Brad Mills, Euky Rojas, Dale Sveum and Dave Wallace

Ballpark: Fenway Park

History, Comments, Contributions

A plaque commemorating Boston's 2004 World Series victory stands outside Fenway Park

The 2004 Boston Red Sox became the only baseball team to ever come back from a 0-3 deficit in a best-of-seven series by beating the New York Yankees in the 2004 ALCS. The series was highlighted by two 4+ hour games (Games 4 and 5) both which stretched into extra innings. David Ortiz hit a walk-off homer in Game 4 and a walk-off single up the middle in Game 5. Curt Schilling provided extra dramatics by pitching Game 6 on a bad ankle with blood soaking through his sock.

Senate Resolution 482, Congratulating the Boston Red Sox on winning the 2004 World Series, November 20, 2004. Introduced by Senator Edward Kennedy.

The Red Sox went on to win the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals in a sweep by shutting down the vaunted Cardinal offense.

This victory ended the so called Curse of the Bambino, ending the Red Sox mythic dry spell of 86 years without a World Series title. Babe Ruth, arguably the greatest or at least most important player of the first half of the 20th century, was on the last Red Sox team to win a World Series in 1918. The mercurial and troublesome pitcher and slugger was sold to the New York Yankees after the 1919 season, and the Red Sox did not win another championship until 2004, while the Yankees, featuring superstars like Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle won 26 rings. The Red Sox's repeated failures in the World Series in 1946, 1967, 1975 and 1986, in agonizing fashion, helped give rise to the belief that Ruth's ghost still haunted the franchise.

Following the Red Sox's win in the 2004 World Series, the team would win two more championships over the next decade, proving that whatever curse there may have been was a thing of the past.

President George W. Bush hosts the 2004 World Series champion Boston Red Sox at the White House

<< 2003 2004 Postseason 2005 >>

NL Division Series (3-1) Cardinals (NLC) over Dodgers (NLW) NL Division Series (3-1) Astros (WC) over Braves (NLE)

NL Championship Series (4-3) Cardinals over Astros

World Series (4-0) Red Sox over Cardinals

AL Championship Series (4-3) Red Sox over Yankees

AL Division Series (3-1) Yankees (ALE) over Twins (ALC) AL Division Series (3-0) Red Sox (WC) over Angels (ALW)

Further Reading

• Ian Browne: Idiots Revisited: Catching Up with the Red Sox Who Won the 2004 World Series, Tilbury House Publishers, Thomaston, ME, 2014. ISBN 978-0884483847
• Ian Browne: "Best season ever? Hard to top 2004 Red Sox", mlb.com, May 19, 2020. [1]
• Steven Goldman, ed.: Mind Game: How the Boston Red Sox Got Smart and Finally Won a World Series, Workman Publishing, New York, NY, 2005.
• Tony Massarotti and John Harper: A Tale of Two Cities: The 2004 Yankees-Red Sox Rivalry and the War for the Pennant, The Lyons Press, Guilford, CT, 2005.
• Seth Mnookin: Feeding the Monster: How Money, Smarts and Nerve Took a Team to the Top, Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, 2006.
• Stewart O'Nan and Stephen King: Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, NY, 2004.
• Charles Nobles: "Riled Up, Red Sox Clinch Spot in Playoffs", New York Times, September 28, 2004
• Bill Nowlin, ed.: Sox Bid Curse Farewell: The 2004 Boston Red Sox, SABR, Phoenix, AZ, 2024. ISBN 978-1-960819-19-2 2004
• Dan Shaughnessy: Reversing the Curse: Inside the 2004 Boston Red Sox, Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, NY, 2005. ISBN 978-0618517480
• Bill Simmons: Now I Can Die in Peace: How ESPN's Sports Guy Found Salvation With a Little Help From Nomar, Pedro, Shawshank and the 2004 Red Sox, ESPN Books, New York, NY, 2005.
• Saul Wisnia: Miracle at Fenway: The Inside Story of the Boston Red Sox 2004 Championship Season, St. Martin's Press, New York, NY, 2014. ISBN 978-1250031631
• Allan Wood and Bill Nowlin: Don't Let Us Win Tonight: An Oral History of the 2004 Boston Red Sox's Impossible Playoff Run, Triumph Books, Chicago, IL, 2014. ISBN 978-1600789137

2004 MLB season by team